If You Have A Purchase Pending With NorthernLightsPens, AshleyJ

[Pendel]

So I am reading the posts in this thread and wondering to myself: if all these folks seem to have had trouble with Ashley/Troy for some time now, why didn't anyone sound a warning months ago? After all, we are a community of sorts and need to look out for each other.

 

Thinking along these lines also makes me wonder whether the time is ripe to have some kind of a feedback system. I know that many of us are not big fans of eBay, but a feedback system would protect us against basic fraud. One possibility is for us to make more active use of the comments box on member's profile pages, assuming these comments will stay and be visible to everyone.

 

Just a couple of thoughts in light of this pretty major scam so many of us fell victim to.

 

Leo

Edited October 15, 2009 by Pendel

[bugmd]

So I am reading the posts in this thread and wondering to myself: if all these folks seem to have had trouble with Ashley/Troy for some time now, why didn't anyone sound a warning months ago? After all, we are a community of sorts and need to look out for each other.

 

Thinking along these lines also makes me wonder whether the time is ripe to have some kind of a feedback system. I know that many of us are not big fans of eBay, but a feedback system would protect us against basic fraud. One possibility is for us to make more active use of the comments box on member's profile pages, assuming these comments will stay and be visible to everyone.

 

Just a couple of thoughts in light of this pretty major scam so many of us fell victim to.

 

Leo

 

As mentioned in my post above, TTroy has promised delivery by October 15th or a full refund. IMHO the honorable thing to do would be to allow that deadline and re-evaluate the situation. I have purchased several very nice pens from NorthernLightsPens, ostensibly dealing with AshleyJ, so for me the proper thing to do is to wait. I have posted my queries here and at Pentrace and have tried to be careful that there is not an accusatory tone in my posts. Let me emphasize that in my opinion it is not fair to accuse anyone of a scam or fraud, a promise of delivery has been made and that deadline is rapidly approaching. As far as I know, AshleyJ has suffered a tragic accident and TTroy is dealing with it as best he can.

 

Don N

[Pendel]

Fair enough, Don, and I will be the first to offer my sincere apologies to TTroy if the money is indeed refunded tomorrow. On the other hand I am not optimistic, due to posts from bariep (Omas Galileo, paid for on July 15) and rubysky ("purchase" on Sept 14th) above, and from Yurigia (regarding a failed refund).

 

Best,

 

Leo

[jpl]

I have learned the hard way not to hesitate and pay everything with my credit card.Trying to do the honorable

thing can be costly in the end.I bought a Pelikan to Regina more than 3 months ago and it got lost in the mail.

The paypal complaint was denied because Regina has proof that the item was mailed (not delivered).Since it was insured I waited past the sixty days for my CC limit to make a complaint.It is mid October and no refund yet.No

way to contact DHL for this matter.Do not hesitate;if you do not have the pen file the complaint(Credit Card that is) no matter who the seller is.

[Tanglewood]

If this in fact turns out to be a fraudulent scam - its a crime. A felony. All together, how many hundreds of $$ have been lost/stollen? Someone should report it to the FBI. Because of the multistate nature of the scam, if that is what it is, I believe they woud be the proper authority. They have a division devoted to internet based crime. You can file a case on line. I am not sure this is the precisely right way to involve the authorities, but they should absolutely be informed of this - should there be no response from Troy or Ashley.

[feiye]

I've been following this thread closely, I didn't want to speak out early but a few of the recent concerned posts prompted me to comment. Excuse my long post.

 

From my experiences so far, TTroy has not been strictly truthful throughout the course of my transaction with him. I questioned him regarding a pen I had seen on FPN and also on Pentrace. Although his FPN post stated that the pen had sold (to another, respected FPN member), the Pentrace post still indicated the pen for sale. I contacted him about the discrepancy between the two posts and his reply to me:

 

The sale fell through on the pen and I haven't had a chance to change it (the post). The buyer was trying to sell another pen in order to afford this one but backed out when he didn't sell his.

I went ahead and sent him payment, after which he acknowledged receipt and provided his story that AshleyJ was in hospital - thus shipping date would be uncertain. After multiple back and forths over 3 weeks, I could not get a clear, or even vague shipping status from him. His responses were in the tone of:

 

I'm trying my best to juggle everything and it's not easy. Frankly I'm not sure if the pen was mailed. If it was it should be there soon. I have about fifteen packages to rip open and repack and then match the pens to the payments. She also had duplicates of several of the pens so I have to check nibs sizes too. It seems like a lot on my plate but I will do it and make this good.

I contacted the FPN member whom I thought originally had purchased the pen just to check and was told that he remitted payment to Troy for said pen moments after the post. This made me greatly concerned as it meant that I had been sold, possibly the other FPN member also, a pen that Troy knew was unavailable.

 

I had passed it off originally when he arranged a refund of my payment through another Paypal account via eCheque, but as Yurigia mentioned the eCheque may not be valid. It has been seven working days and no Paypal notification of eCheque clearance so I am highly skeptical. I am hoping for the best, that the cheque clears, but doubtful and preparing for the worst.

 

This whole scenario has put a sour note on all of my transactions to date with other FPN members, which have been nothing but brilliant. I hope everyone else who has lost out throughout this ordeal receives a suitable solution, best wishes.

 

 

--Feiye

Edited October 15, 2009 by feiye

[MarcShiman]

This is another excellent reminder (no matter what the outcome is) that Paypal users should never use a bank account number for Paypal purchases. Paypal offers you absolutely zero protection against someone deliberately attempting to defraud you. Once the money is pulled from the account, Paypal simply shrugs its shoulders and says "you were right, but..."

 

Credit Card companies will refund your money and charge Paypal. It used to be that you had to go through a "are you sure" screen when switching to a credit card (that has since been dropped) because Paypal realizes its exposure.

 

This isn't meant to be a commentary on this particular situation, but it is a stark reminder.

[MikeW]

This story appears grimmer with each new post.

 

If this is, in fact, a case of fraud, I am not sure a ratings system would have detected it (having said that, I am neutral on that issue). Ashley appears to have conducted honourable dealings for at least two years (I myself purchased a Pelikan 800 nib from her in June, 2008 and I have noted others who have had successful transactions with her) and exchanged other emails with her on pen matters. I was certainly tempted to purchase a number of the pens she was offering over the past few months and never would have guessed that I was being taken in.

Edited October 15, 2009 by MikeW

[Enai]

Hi all. I have had no dealings with AshleyJ or TTroy, so my interest in this thread is merely out of curiosity. I would, however, like to caution everyone not to reveal personal/identifying information about the concerned parties that they have not themselves revealed to FPN as a whole. At best, at this point, the situation is pretty confused, and nobody really knows the truth. Neither is this a court of law. Please be very cautious.

[I am not a number]

This is slightly strange but I have had two e-mails to my personal e-address asking me to "click to connect" with a Thomas Troy Jenkins. I know a Tom Jenkins in the UK and it wasn't him so I have been ignoring them under the impression they were phishing attempts. I have now deleted the emails from my system but would like to know how the heck he got hold of me in the real world. If Thomas Troy Jenkins had my details or address why it was not used directly and what in the Blue Blazes is going on here. I don't have a pen on order and can't think why I am being pinged through a third-party site to make contact.

[reprieve]

This is slightly strange but I have had two e-mails to my personal e-address asking me to "click to connect" with a Thomas Troy Jenkins. I know a Tom Jenkins in the UK and it wasn't him so I have been ignoring them under the impression they were phishing attempts. I have now deleted the emails from my system but would like to know how the heck he got hold of me in the real world. If Thomas Troy Jenkins had my details or address why it was not used directly and what in the Blue Blazes is going on here. I don't have a pen on order and can't think why I am being pinged through a third-party site to make contact.

 

That's kind of creepy. I wonder if it is indeed the same TTroy? I value my anonymity/privacy highly, and I trust that the few people who have been given my personal address (e- and otherwise) will keep it to themselves.

[riff raff]

This story appears grimmer with each new post.

 

If this is, in fact, a case of fraud, I am not sure a ratings system would have detected it (having said that, I am neutral on that issue). Ashley appears to have conducted honourable dealings for at least two years (I myself purchased a Pelikan 800 nib from her in June, 2008 and I have noted others who have had successful transactions with her) and exchanged other emails with her on pen matters. I was certainly tempted to purchase a number of the pens she was offering over the past few months and never would have guessed that I was being taken in.

Indeed, if this is premeditated fraud, a ratings system probably would not have helped. On the other hand, it would not have hurt, either.

[hari317]

very disturbing, I had not opened this thread till now since I had no pending purchase.

[MikeW]

This is slightly strange but I have had two e-mails to my personal e-address asking me to "click to connect" with a Thomas Troy Jenkins. I know a Tom Jenkins in the UK and it wasn't him so I have been ignoring them under the impression they were phishing attempts. I have now deleted the emails from my system but would like to know how the heck he got hold of me in the real world. If Thomas Troy Jenkins had my details or address why it was not used directly and what in the Blue Blazes is going on here. I don't have a pen on order and can't think why I am being pinged through a third-party site to make contact.

 

That's kind of creepy. I wonder if it is indeed the same TTroy? I value my anonymity/privacy highly, and I trust that the few people who have been given my personal address (e- and otherwise) will keep it to themselves.

 

I received the same email request. As I was curious, I used a throw away email address to click through and find out who it was - after clicking through everything, I was going to have to sign up (and pay) for at least one month to be able to add this person to my contacts and be able to see who it was. Naturally I declined.

[raillink]

This is slightly strange but I have had two e-mails to my personal e-address asking me to "click to connect" with a Thomas Troy Jenkins.......

 

I have had 2 emails asking me to confirm if I know a Thomas Troy Jenkins so that I could be connected. He has, apparently, added me as a friend on MyLife, whatever that is.

 

I have had no dealings with him, so am at a loss to explain how he obtained my email address.

[MikeW]

This is slightly strange but I have had two e-mails to my personal e-address asking me to "click to connect" with a Thomas Troy Jenkins.......

 

I have had 2 emails asking me to confirm if I know a Thomas Troy Jenkins so that I could be connected. He has, apparently, added me as a friend on MyLife, whatever that is.

 

I have had no dealings with him, so am at a loss to explain how he obtained my email address.

 

It can't be a coincidence that Ashley's boyfriend/husband has the identical name. Therefore, I think it is reasonable to conclude that this person had access to Ashley's address book and has decided to use it for some purpose. I politely declined and then went onto this mylife site and requested not to receive any email from them.

Edited October 15, 2009 by MikeW

[I am not a number]

I have had 2 emails asking me to confirm if I know a Thomas Troy Jenkins so that I could be connected. He has, apparently, added me as a friend on MyLife, whatever that is.

 

I have had no dealings with him, so am at a loss to explain how he obtained my email address.

That's exactly the same as I had. If I may borrow from the vernacular, there's something about this that smells bloody fishy.

[Yurigia]

Hello to all,

 

I have receive 3 hours ago this answer from Troy to my request of Paypal refund:

 

For everyone who have not received pens by today's date I will begin the refund process through Paypal. If pens have arrived please let me know. Many apologies for this situation as it is beyond my control. I have done my best.

 

Sincerely

 

Troy

 

Now I have sent to him a request of immediate refund on Paypal and I wait his answer.

 

I think that all of you have received this email..??

 

If someone has others information or receive back the money please publish that here.

 

Juri

Edited October 15, 2009 by Yurigia

[bbs]

Re making sure your PayPal account is linked to a credit card - mine was, until I reached their limit and PayPay themselves forced me to link it to my bank account .... where does that leave me?

[Chris Chalmers]

I don't have any dealings with AshleyJ - but I have had two invitations to join whatever it is he's sending out - I don't even click the "no thanks" button, I just delete the email!

I did, however, send her an email wishing her a fast and full recovery - so that is where he got my address.

I don't join any of the social doo-dads on the internet - don't refuse either, just delete them.

I hope everyone gets their refunds or pens.........I'm trying hard to be positive about this - but I'm afraid it doesn't look good to me.